Sephora to open Harford warehouse

Natalie Sherman, The Baltimore Sun

Makeup giant Sephora Americas plans to open a massive, tailor-made warehouse in Harford County to serve as the distribution hub for its East Coast customers, adding 200 full-time jobs to support its growth, an attorney for the company said.

Sephora, owned by the Paris-based LVMH, operates more than 330 stores in the U.S. and Canada.

The new warehouse in the Mid-Atlantic Distribution Center in Perryman, which is still in construction, will consildate operations at Sephora's two current Mercedes Drive properties and almost double its footprint in Harford County, from 386,677 to 655,800 square feet, Thomas "Toby" Mink of CBRE Industrial Services said.

The facility, which is scheduled to be ready in May 2014, is under long-term lease, said Mink, who declined to describe its terms. Sephora settled on the site after a multi-state search, he said.

"I think it's a big win for the county and state that they were able to retain Sephora as a large, private retailer, to keep them in the county and the state and not only keep them but expand their footprint and create more jobs," he said.

The facility is owned and developed by a joint venture of Ryan/Emory Properties and Northwestern Mutual Real Estate Investment, CBRE said in a news release.